Korneel van 't Land has informed us about new Snipers and launchers Arma 3 video release on YouTube.

Bohemia Interactive today released a brand new episode in their Arma 3 Community Guide video series. Taking a closer look at two specialized infantry roles, Andrew Gluck (better known as Dslyecxi) from ShackTactical covers a number of tips for sniper and anti-tank/anti-aircraft teams in Arma 3.

People who want to jump in before Arma 3‚Äôs launch on September 12, can already purchase the Arma 3 Beta (34.99 EUR/29.99 GBP/44.99 USD) and the Arma 3 Digital Deluxe Edition (44.99 EUR/39.99 GBP/59.99 USD) from Steam and Store.bistudio.com. Both editions include a version of the full retail game, and the prices will increase upon the release of Arma 3.

Yesterday we finally pushed the Altian homeland to development branch. It was great to see a lot of players jump into multiplayer and take a road trip together to explore the vast terrain. The rather sizable update came in over two gigabytes of data, because it did not only contain the Altis terrain data, but supporting objects as well. Included were its vegetation, rocks, roads and many static objects, such as the unique landmarks and other structures.

Next week (hopefully September 4th) we have another large development branch deployment planned for everyone who is already with us in the Beta. All of the rest of the sandbox content is to be staged on development branch - meaning tanks, artillery, static weaponry and more. We're only keeping playable content for the actual release. While we understand everybody is wanting to try out the content, please do remember that development branch is an experimental daily build. We do not offer guarantees this branch does not contain major issues and it passes very little testing. Check the disclaimers before opting in, and consider switching back to the primary version after September 12th.

INTELLIGENCE

We'd like to welcome the communities in Australia and New Zealand to an official Facebook page for their region. It is managed by our distributors Down Under - All Interactive - and they have special local events and activities coming up.

OPERATIONS

The gentlemen looking after our AI have deployed another round of tweaks and tests to development branch. They've mainly focused on Close Quarters Battles to make the AI not as easily caught unaware and oblivious to nearby threats. Their rotation speed and accuracy is affected by more factors now (like players) and they are more reactive. This does also make them more of a challenge, and our devs are looking for feedback to tweak the values. They also welcome isolated reproduction missions for specific bugs. It is still unclear whether these changes will be approved for the release version. Firstly, we need to check whether they work generally, and then to see how they affect existing scenarios.

LOGISTICS

For a lot of people Altis appears to be running great. For others however, there are reported issues with loading and running it. We are working on investigating this with priority. Some of our developers may contact people on the forums directly via Private Message, asking for system details. Your contributions to isolating the problem are appreciated.

Meanwhile there are also other factors that can impact your performance. There were a few rather persistent errors in the RPT logs, which were fixed on devbranch today (or can be disabled by using the -nologs parameter, but that also removes our ability to trace issues). Secondly, this was a large data update and if you've been on devbranch for a while, you'll have experienced daily data changes. If you are not using SSD storage, try defragmenting your drive. Verifying the Steam data integrity via its client can also ensure you do not have corrupted data.

Finally, now could be a good moment to revisit your video settings, previously optimized for Stratis alone. Altis is a much larger terrain and balancing your details, view distances and similar settings can help a lot. The maximum (Ultra) settings we offer in our game are there to suit the needs and abilities of future and enthusiast hardware. There may certainly already be PCs that run these settings now, but we recommend care when evaluating what configuration is right for your hardware. The auto-detect option is a good starting point.

fer has informed us about F3 Illustrated Step-by-Step : Make an Adversarial Mission with F3 Tutorial release.

From the introduction:

In this illustrated, step-by-step tutorial, you'll create a simple adversarial mission (team vs. team) using the F3 mission development framework for ArmA 3.

You'll use many components from F3, but by no means all of them. The tutorial will explain how to configure those components that require input from the mission maker. The tutorial will also explain the components that are automatically enabled simply by using F3 to make the mission.

When you finish this tutorial you'll have a mission that's ready to play on either your locally-hosted server, or uploaded to your community's dedicated server. To help you check that you've correctly followed each step, a downloadable copy of the tutorial mission folder is linked at the end.

... at the Gamescom, the latest version of ARMA 3 shows some content from the full version, including for example the tanks that are not yet playable in the beta. In this video, the developers present this content :

Right after releasing last week's final Beta patch, the team dove into preparing a solid build for Gamescom 2013. By burning some weekend midnight oil, yesterday we had a build we were happy with - and it flew to Germany last night. Today the Bohemia crew is setting up the business and public booths: installing the games, configuring the settings, and running through their presentations. Representing Arma 3 are designers Jiř√≠ Zlatohl√°vek and Karel Mořick√Ĺ. They'll be showing off the cool release package starting tomorrow, so expect plenty of coverage. Both Arma 3 and DayZ standalone are hands-on playable at the public booth. Visit us in Hall 9.1 (booth 32) if you're there!

The rest of us are testing, testing and testing the release build. We're evaluating issues on a case-by-case basis and selecting the ones we need fixed for September 12th. What remains is investigated and logged for post-release work. What about Altis?! The mothership is inbound and visitors of Gamescom can explore it however they like. It is also ready to land on development branch the day after Gamescom closes - August 26th. With it comes a whole bunch of new static objects - from obviously required vegetation, roads, rocks and buildings - to some more dynamic objects for scenario design.

INTELLIGENCE

So far the Steam Workshop support for scenarios is really proving its worth. It is a good first step towards more extended support. We love getting to work in the morning, selecting a random scenario, and having some quick fun. There are even some scenarios with custom voice work and music already. We look forward to more and more, especially on Altis!

If you're unsure how it all works: you can browse the Workshop in-game via the Scenarios menu. The Workshop button at the bottom of the screen will open it in the overlay (it is also possible to browse and subscribe out-of-game via any browser). Then all you have to do is a pick a scenario and press Subscribe. The scenario will be downloaded into the game, and you can immediately start it. Once you're done playing, you see a button in the debriefing screen which opens the scenario in Workshop once more. Rate the scenario, leave constructive feedback for its creator and share it with your friends. Subscribing to multiplayer scenarios works in a very similar way, except you start by creating a new server and open the overlay there.

OPERATIONS

You may have noticed updated voice acting for those showcases which feature the CSAT faction. We've finally recorded all release (including Alpha and Beta) conversations in the Farsi language, and it really adds a nice immersive feeling to them. Note that the main thing remaining to do this week is to record the actual dynamic radio protocols. So, until then, you'll hear English for the CSAT radio protocol - and that includes the Gamescom build.

Users of development branch will have also witnessed tweaks to inventory capacities and fatigue. Lord of the Bounce, Petr Kol√°ř, elaborates : " the current status is going to stay as it is for release of the game, but the designers are working on improvements in this field on daily basis. We have already reduced being able to carry a ridiculous amount of stuff without impending some notable drawbacks. Soldiers are still able to lift some heavy burdens (to a much lesser extent than before), but moving with them disrupts their aiming skills a lot. You may experience the changes best while fighting in a group with encumbered AI soldiers; they tend to slow down the advance to have at least some energy to shoot precisely."

LOGISTICS

It should be noted that not all of the work seen on development branch will make it into the 1.00 release version. Our team wants to continue their work, but some of the changes are too risky to merge into the release build during the next few weeks. Imagine an AI improvement that enhances CQB behavior for example. This is very exciting work, but it can also change the behavior of existing scenarios. From now until release we go through the fixes in development branch daily and pick those things that are needed / safe. The rest will be used for patches.

On Thursday 15th August 2013, Korneel van 't Land has informed us about Steam Workshop integration as well as Arma 3 new screenshots release.

Before the official launch of Arma 3 on September 12, Bohemia Interactive has published a final update for the Arma 3 Beta. The absolute highlight of this update is the integration of Steam Workshop ‚Äď which makes the sharing of user-created scenarios significantly more convenient.

Now, with Steam Workshop content sharing, players can upload and download both singleplayer and multiplayer scenarios. Arma 3‚Äôs in-game scenario editor is a powerful tool, allowing for the quick creation of missions, as well as more complex scenarios. Enhanced gameplay modules make life easier for aspiring designers to get started without having to learn the scripting language.

Having created a scenario, players can easily push it to the Workshop with a description and overview image. Other players can browse the Workshop for a scenario that looks appealing to them and subscribe to it. This will download the scenario and let players start it without restarting the game. Interacting with the author is made easy: players can leave comments, give a rating and updates are automatically downloaded. Authors themselves can post update notes and promote their scenarios with screenshots and videos.

Designer and Workshop caretaker, Jiř√≠ Zlatohl√°vek, expands:‚ÄúEven though we are dedicated to support the traditional ways of sharing content, used by many of the popular community portals - in the fast and easy to use world of app stores, streaming services and real-time feeds, we felt that sharing user content could be improved. What we see in the Workshop is a faster and easier way both for the creators to get their work out there to players and for the players to find and try it while providing feedback and encouragement, where it's needed the most.‚ÄĚ

The last update for the Arma 3 Beta also includes a long list of other improvements and fixes (overview here), and will be downloaded automatically via Steam.

Last but not least, as part of the countdown to launch, and Gamescom, Bohemia Interactive has released 9 brand new screenshots featuring the 290 km¬≤ island of Altis. The studio invites everyone to their Gamescom booth in the public area, located in Hall 9.1, C-32.

Wow! Lots of things to go through this week, so let's get to it. We dropped some intense bits of news on everyone, including our campaign release plan and the primary release of the game on September 12th. It was hard to say all we wanted to say in one (rather lengthy) blog. We hope it answered some of your questions, and helped explain the situation we are coming from. We like the contents of the release package and look forward to unleashing it in exactly one month.

Meanwhile, we are pestering our Quality Assurance department with getting the final Beta patch out nicely - ideally this week. Besides a huge log of improvements, its primary focus is the Steam Workshop going live. Already enabled in development branch, you can now publish scenarios from the editor and subscribe to them from within the game as well. At the moment the Workshop contents is only visible to owners of the Arma 3 Beta, whereas it will become visible to everyone. Cool stuff is already actively being published, iterated, given feedback and enjoyed!

The campaign will be released in three episodes in the months following release. Do please take time to read our blog with further insights into how this came about.

Episode 1 of the new season of Community Guide videos has meanwhile gone live and takes a look at helicopter mastery.

There has been a lot of talk within the community about the release package and assets perceived as missing, most notably more fixed-wing aircraft. We are planning to release more content in patches, besides the campaign itself. Let's explain what's going on:

- During our project review last year, we significantly changed the direction of the project - we feel for the better (details in the blog). This included a significant iteration of what we refer to as the ORBAT - our list of vehicles and weapons. Our priorities changed: building the game up from the infantry level, to combined arms support, and now arriving at the larger war. This led to certain assets being moved down in the priority list, a few being removed, but also entirely new and splendid content being commissioned (Ghosthawk, Darter, Ifrit, Marid, Kamysh, Zafir, etc.). The setting and factions also changed - resulting in assets previously shown on screenshots as OPFOR to become BLUFOR (Hunter, Slammer, Panther, etc.), along with some more faction reshuffling.

- A few assets seen in screenshots and other media were taken well before the project review, when Arma 3 was a different game. We remain convinced the changes were for the better. It wasn't optimal to show placeholder and prototype content before we knew we could finish it. This has also led to a renewed stance to public statements - not confirming or announcing content before we are quite sure about it (starting October 2012). Specifically vehicles like the F-38 (as we called it), were only ever placeholder assets taken from Arma 2, and used to showcase flight and the new clouds, as well as to test fixed-wing PhysX. They were meant to be significantly updated or re-done to match, but due to a shift in priorities, not finished in time. There was no ill-intent when showing them - rather overly ambitious goals, enthusiasm and a desire to share development progress.

- Adding content post-release is not necessarily new for our games, and a tradition we've stuck with ever since OFP Cold War Crisis. Veterans may remember the free Ultimate Upgrade packages adding major vehicles such as the Su-25, Chinook, Vulcan AA, Kozlice shotgun and more. Another example was the addition of Warfare mode and USMC units to Arma 1. Some of the content will be brand-new and some is finished content shown in the past. Top priority for the artists now are two Close Air Support fixed-wing beasts, one for both primary factions. And there is more cool stuff to come!

OPERATIONS

With regards to the Steam Workshop - we knew there were modders who have expressed concerns about the license agreement. Because of this we've discussed options directly with Valve and pursued more agreeable terms. Note that we still view this as an optional (but very exciting!) service to share content. The old methods are still in place and we have no intentions of changing that.

Our drones (Darter, Greyhawk and Stomper) will miss the final Beta patch this week. Instead they will be added to development branch soon. A few functionality issues are being resolved, but we absolutely cannot delay the patch.

Internally we are going to be on a development lock down very soon and up to release. This effectively means we will only make important fixes to release content. This is done to ensure stability in the release version. It may mean the updates on development branch are less significant - although we do want to stage a lot of release content there ahead of September 12th! We will also need to re-skin the game from Beta to release, so don't be surprised if Beta logos and texts start morphing into their final versions.

LOGISTICS

Last Saturday evening we attempted to do a live-stream of release content. It was partly thwarted by our Internet connection, but ultimately a version went up two hours later. A few hours before the stream, we ran tests and things were green across the board. When we were just about to go live, we found the upload connection being interrupted frequently - causing dropped frames in the stream. We decided it would be better to record the same presentation offline and upload it immediately afterwards. Check out the results here!

Bohemia Interactive has released an Arma 3 Livestream video on YouTube.

Live from Bohemia Interactive HQ, the Arma 3 devteam welcomes you to their next livestream hangout. As our splendid Alpha and Beta development journey is slowly coming to an end, this official broadcast presents a sneak peek at Arma 3's release package - and kick-starts the countdown to launch!